Most of the critics of Kansas Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby’s rejection of permits for two coal plants in western Kansas have been from western Kansas. So there’s no gauging how the full Legislature would vote on any measure aimed at overruling the decision, let alone trying to override a governor’s veto of such a bill. But at least one key Johnson County lawmaker, state Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, appears ready to stand with plant proponents. “The Legislature needs to take legislative action to overrule Bremby’s decision,†Vratil said this week, arguing the state’s action could deter businesses from investing in Kansas.
That seemingly puts Vratil at odds with Sen. Jim Barnett (in photo), R-Emporia, a physician who recently said Bremby was right to consider the health effects of carbon emissions when he denied the permit (but also said there are more serious air-quality issues in other parts of the state).
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Regular on ACORN stole election?
- thomaswitt on ACORN stole election?
- Daniel on Open thread 11/21
- Daniel on ACORN stole election?
- Phantom on Open thread 11/21
- Daniel on Open thread 11/21
- thomaswitt on ACORN stole election?
- Regular on Open thread 11/21
- Phantom on ACORN stole election?
- thomaswitt on ACORN stole election?
16 Comments
I do believe Bremby reflected the will of the people in the State of Kansas.
I will always be NIMBY on this kind of polluting monster.
Especially when it is of little benefit to Kansas and uses up our resources, pollutes our air, ground and water and offers no real electrical benefit but to a few Kansans.
The Republican crazies in the Kansas legislature should stay out of this fight. But the I guess Sunflower pays real good, huh?
Why is it ok to approve all these ethanol plants which suck up tons of water out of the acquifer in western kansas and not a coal plant out there? Seems a bit hypocritical to me, if you do one, you should do the other…
Any other source of energy will cause a LARGE INCREASE IN PRICE to the consumer.
We need to use coal in a enviornmentally balance approach to wind (which need to be backed up by conventional plants during time when wind is not available) and would serve as an addtional buffer against higher natural gas costs.
It doesnt really matter where we purchse fuel from, it still comes from the huge supply pool.
Yeah, that’s the answer.
Keep doing what we’ve always done and expect a different result.
Looks like several parties suing to build the plant in Ks. are from out of State. That should show who’ll benefit most from the plant.
Capn
Economics is “global” just as the environment is “global”.
You get selfish with one and not with the other.
Paul – I agree that both are global. That is why it is so important to see the US take a technologcal lead in developing alternatives that can be applied globally. China, india etc ALL need to be developing alternate energy sources.
BenI watched a History Channel show on alternative energy a few nights ago.It was interesting.I will be the first to push viable alternatives, when I see them.
There’s a guy in Wichita that tweeks out cars to get 60-100 mph. Willie Neslon runs his tour bus on fry grease. He also sells Biodiesel at his buddy’s truck stop. Using farmland that the gov pays farmers to lie fallow to grow crops for fuel saves both taxpayer money by eliminating a stupid gov program and helps the US be energy independent. Glenn Beck hawks a tank less water heater on his show that uses 80% less energy than a standard tank.The Technology is all ready here it just has to be used.
There’s a guy in Wichita that tweeks out cars to get 60-100 mph. Willie Neslon runs his tour bus on fry grease. He also sells Biodiesel at his buddy’s truck stop. Using farmland that the gov pays farmers to lie fallow to grow crops for fuel saves both taxpayer money by eliminating a stupid gov program and helps the US be energy independent. Glenn Beck hawks a tank less water heater on his show that uses 80% less energy than a standard tank.The Technology is all ready here it just has to be used.
There’s a guy in Wichita that tweeks out cars to get 60-100 mph. Willie Neslon runs his tour bus on fry grease. He also sells Biodiesel at his buddy’s truck stop. Using farmland that the gov pays farmers to lie fallow to grow crops for fuel saves both taxpayer money by eliminating a stupid gov program and helps the US be energy independent. Glenn Beck hawks a tank less water heater on his show that uses 80% less energy than a standard tank.The Technology is all ready here it just has to be used.
Wait until global warming is more prominent.With all the releasing of carbon dioxide and methane gas from the frozen earth, it will change the quality of our breathable air that may not be life sustainable.Several times though out earth’s early history, our atmosphere was of a toxic mix allowing only certain life forms to exist, it could be time for another one of those periods and we could be on our way to extinction.
Paul – they ARE viabl now.
Tom Paine – I saw that article too. However I remain skeptical. I’ve seen too many of these claims before.
There is NO “environmentally balanced” method of burning coal! There is no such thing as “clean coal”: the most liberal of proponents of that say it is at least ten years off (and after the plant would have been built!). Most Kansans oppose the dirty, pollution-belching coal plant: why does the Beagle persist in dredging up non-news?
In the lead-in paragraph on this thread, EAGLE opinion editor, Rhonda Holman seems to pit a couple of Kansas state senators against each other over the coal-fired power plants proposed for west of Garden City. One is Kansas state senator, Jim Barnett R-Emporia. Barnett is the former candidate for Kansas Governor who ran such a pitiful race that you might think he deliberately threw it away.
To his credit, State Senator Barnett, a physician, correctly opposes the proposed coal-fired power plants on the environmental disaster basis in both air pollution and gulping additional amounts of water from our Kansas citizen owned Ogallala aquifer.
State Senator John Vratil, a Leawood attorney, apparently favors building the two coal-fired power plants perhaps because Leawood is about as far as one can get from Holcomb, Kansas, some 400 miles westward. And lawyers usually see potential fees for other lawyers in these kind of massive developments.
Its obvious the power plants like ethanol plants will add pollution immeasurably to Kansas air quality and gulp millions more gallons of clean bubbling Ogallala aquifer water from deep under Kansas.
Cleverly, the proposed twin power plants are sited near the western border of Kansas to pick up the gradual movement of Ogallala water southeastward under Kansas. Some of it seeps into both branches of the Ninnescah River as well as the Chikaskia River a few miles south. The north branch of the Ninnescah River, of course, feeds Lake Chaney. Cheney Lake in turn provides about 1/2 of Wichita’s water supply.
Some of the Ogallala water reaches the Equus Beds aquifer near Halstead which also furnishes water to Wichita for its drinking water supply.
What we don’t want in Kansas is to become like Atlanta, Georgia and not have any remaining drinking water. Or obtain our water supply from surface rivers which here in Wichita means taking regurgitated, recycled sewage treatment water from cities up the Arkansas River for Wichita’s drinking water.
In all the articles about the proposed Holcomb power plants, I see almost no mention of the desperate water situation Kansans might find themselves in if they allow the Ogallala aquifer to continue to be robbed and pillaged by industrialists and uninformed politicians.
SO EVERYONE … WE MUST PULL TOGETHER TO SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT INCLUDING OUR AIR AND DRINKING WATER.